316. When Your Middlers Lack Interest

Brave Writer

Julie Bogart and Melissa Wiley

Arts, Kids & Family, Education, Books, Education For Kids

4.8 • 927 Ratings

🗓️ 3 December 2025

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

What do we do when our tweens and teens don’t seem “into” anything? In this episode, we explore how to revive interest, curiosity, and motivation in the middle school years—without forcing artificial enthusiasm. We talk about why middlers may seem disengaged, how risk and adventure replace the “magic” of early childhood learning, and how deep dives, conversation, boredom, and flexibility can open doors to authentic passion. We also share practical scripts, examples from our own families, and tools for nurturing critical thinking and connection.

Text us your questions using the link in the show notes!

Resources:

Listen to our interview with Chris Balme, and find his book Challenge Accepted: 50 Adventures to Make Middle School Awesome in the Brave Writer Book Shop
Brave Writer class registration is open!
Visit Julie’s Substack to find her special podcast for kids (and a lot more!)
Purchase Julie’s new book, Help! My Kid Hates Writing
Find community at Brave Learner Home
Learn more about the Brave Writer Literature & Mechanics programs
Start a free trial of CTCmath.com to try the math program that’s sure to grab and keep your child’s attention
Subscribe to Julie’s Substack newsletters, Brave Learning with Julie Bogart and Julie Off Topic, and Melissa’s Catalog of Enthusiasms
Sign up for our Text Message Pod Ring to get podcast updates and more!
Send us podcast topic ideas by texting us: +1 (833) 947-3684

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Produced by NOVA

Transcript

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0:00.0	Looking for a great math program?
0:03.0	CTC Math provides online video tutorials that make learning math easy and effective
0:10.0	by using creative graphics and animation that are sure to grab and keep your child's attention.
0:16.0	Here's a great testimonial from Lori.
0:18.0	She said one day my 10-year-old was in tears over math.
0:23.7	I tried my best to help, but I ended up in tears as well.
0:27.7	That very night, I received an email offer for CTC Math.
0:32.1	The following Monday, we reviewed the curriculum together.
0:35.8	She was willing to give it a shot, and we have never looked back.
0:39.9	Start your free trial today by visiting ctcmath.com.
0:50.0	Welcome back to the Brave Rider podcast. Hello, Melissa.
0:53.3	Hi, Julie. We're recording this shortly after your
0:56.6	birthday, so happy birthday. Oh, that's so nice. Thank you. And thanks to everybody who said,
1:01.5	happy birthday on social media. That was very nice. You know what's funny, I took my birthday off
1:07.5	of Facebook, just so I wouldn't have to deal with hundreds of birthdays,
1:12.7	birthday wishes. And then I was like, oh, that does feel weird not to get hundreds and hundreds,
1:17.0	like, you know, old school. But it was very nice to hear from the people who actually know and
1:22.1	love me. And a lot of you said, happy birthday on Instagram. So thank you. Thank you, Melissa.
1:26.7	I think that's still the one thing
1:28.5	about Facebook that I like. That's great. No, that's great. So what do you have for us today? What are we
1:34.5	going to talk about? Okay. This is fun. We had a request on our SMS line. So I think listeners know
1:42.5	about, we have a number that you can text if there's
	...

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